We are constantly seeking opportunities to interview different people representing the various areas of the sign industry. This month we are featuring Richard Klimscha of Planit Media. Our staff interviewed Mr. Klimscha in early October and the following is an excerpt from that interview:

Mr. Klimscha: Planit Media has in a short time become world leading in the area of media information. The service provides continuously up-dated information on magazines, newspaper, online, outdoor and exhibitions in addition to job vacancies in the media business.

SI: When seeking out a potential customer, what type of profile or customer characteristics do you look for:

Mr. Klimscha: We have a diverse customer target portfolio, however the key criterion is customers who have advertising budgets and are in need of quality constantly up-to-date media information across a wide media mix. These could be the corporate customers themselves, searching for the right media mix for their advertising spend or agencies acting on behalf of major corporations.

SI: How does a sign company, like an outdoor sign company benefit by using your services?

Mr. Klimscha: The benefit can be derived two ways. Firstly by being listed on our service, your contact details are available to our customer base worldwide. Someone who is looking for outdoor advertising companies, using our system finds the details of the companies that interest them, they then contact those companies directly and this then generates sales leads.

The second benefit is the use of our system as a competitive intelligence tool, being able to search the database for competitors in your region and view their offerings according to the fields we list.

SI: What has been the greatest difficulty in compiling a listing of your media resources?

Mr. Klimscha: Without a doubt, the answer to this is incomplete information. Content providers who send details of their outdoor or online or newspaper media and who omit obvious information from their media packs.

SI: With your experience in the outdoor advertising arena, what is your opinion as to where the industry is going?

Mr. Klimscha: As in so many business fields now, the industry is going down the consolidation path, with large nationals vying for global dominance with corporate buy-outs and a complex web of satellite companies. As outdoor advertising is typically reserved for fmcg’s and universally accessible brands, the industry feels less threat from recent innovations such as interactive television and the wider applications of online advertising enabled through broadband delivery. Outdoor remains a unique way of delivering a universal message in the era of increased advertising segmentation. That said, I would suspect that with advances in portable telephony and bluetooth-enabled interaction, the future of outdoor could well be shaped by enabling point-of-sale and other forms of outdoor media to bring the consumer a personalised message.

SI: As your organisation grows, what do you see as the greatest challenge in the next five years?

Mr. Klimscha: Our greatest challenge can simply be defined as encouraging media traditionalists to leave behind the labyrinthine media directories and to embrace the future of media information available at the click of a button.

SI: I know that you provide in-depth information on advertising opportunities. Where do you see the greatest growth within the various modes of advertising?

Mr. Klimscha: Obviously a tricky question to answer, as it is difficult within our fast moving here today-gone tomorrow world to predict with much accuracy what is around the corner. I think that the best way to tackle this question is to look at some of the key trends and conclude that those forms of advertising that can embrace those trends will be the growth areas of the future.

I think the key trends for advertising with be the fine balance between the personalization of advertising content, including all aspects of interactivity, coupled with the challenge of leaving the consumer with some semblance of free choice. The consumer of the future want to see advertisements concerning what they want, where they want and when they want.

For more information about Planit Media and their services, you may contact him at: